The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-05-26
Fig Iron Making in the South from
Charcoal Produced under the
Pierce Method.
IOA % IGbIuUU.

some eleven years ago II. NJ Pierce COM
menced eAperlnenting upon the question Of
maKlhS cI3 NJ, from retorts, with The view OF
utiiizing al the products of the wood In the or
binary kiins one cord OF wood has yielded from
30 to IS bushels of, say 20 lbs. to the bushel,
while in the Pierce process, where carried on IN
q large way for supplying furnaces the aver
age yield OF charcoal is claimed TO be 50 bushels
10 The cora. winch Is worth Goo per bushel, So.
Then there are obtained gallons of crude
wood alcohol per cord, value 95 cents per gallon
at the WORKS, $2s5; $50 ID. of acetate of lime per
cord, &c per ~ at the works, $l.50; Loco lbs. OF
burnable hydrccarbon, equal in value for heat
ing purposes to the amount of So OF other fuel,
total OF sl0.3o, against about S2.25 worth of
charcoal under the old process. The first works
in the South in which figures have been veri-
fed for about three years were built at Good
rich, Hickman county. Tenn. This plant has Il
capital stock of $3.50 900, and consists of 20 char
coal kilns and a 25-ton furnace, together with Il
large amount OF real estate which consists
mostly OF mining property and timber land.
The second WORKS put up under this process
were erected III 1856, at Caiera, Shelby county,
Ala The capital stock of this company is $780,
900 consists OF is charcoal kins now in opera
ton with n capacity of 10 900 cords of wood per
annum: The charcoal produced from these
ovens IS at present sold to the Shelby non
Company's furnace. The Calera Furnace and
Charcoal company propose during 1887 to erect
50-ton charcoal furnace which will consume
the charcoal of its own manufacture. j. w.
Dimmick, Montgomery, is president G. a. la
nier, Montgomery, Ala, is treasurer, and II. NJ
result OF this operation was the Warner Furn-
ace. of West Tennessee, which utilized the
charcoal ON t1e GOODRICH furnace for
Der of months while that furnace was idle The
fourth was the Etna Furnace of West Tennes-
see, which have their own ovens and are run
ming upon the products. The fifth works now
nearing completion are at Decatur, Ala with
40 charcoal kllns having an average capacity Of
ST cords per kiln, or q total annual caDacitv of
10000 cords. Alcohol and acetate of lime de
partments are connected with the plant A so
ton furnace is to be built during the year at n
cost OF 81 ,00J, the size of the furnace being y
1eet bOsh 60 feet high, with one blowing en-
CINE having steam cylinder 3Gx1S. blowing
cylinder 4SX4S il cheS, steam being furnished by
Babcock and Wilcox boilers. All contracts have
been let, and the construction of the furnace
will be prosecuted as rapidly as possible. The
president is j NJ. Head Nashville; NJ. A. Spur,
treasurer; r. T. Jackson secretary, and ii. NJ.
Pierce, general manager.
The sixth plant established under this pro-
cess was that of the Nashville Iron Steel and
Charcoal Company, capital stock 500 600, Will
lard Warner, president Commercial Bank,
treasurer j. M. Reilly, secretary. This COM
pany have two Cotton furnaces contracted for
with Gordon, StIobel d Laureau, at cost of
gines to work in combination, of which the
steam cylinder will be 36Xl0 inches and the
air cylinder will be 4SxSi inches, with Babcock
| and Wilcox boiler. For the manufacture of
their charcoal they are erecting so kilnS, w it'll
an annual capacity of 10000 CORDS of wood. The
site oil this plant is on the Cumberland riN-
err, near Nashville with railroad connections 10
the Louisville and Nashville and Northwestern
system. The entire work is being prosecuted S
fast as economical outlay of money can effect
The seventh plant under this process s located
| at Montgomery, Ala: w. l.. Chambers, presi-
dent capital stock 500 000 with one 60-Ion fur
nace and 10 charcoal kilnS for the entire reduce
ton of 10000 into charcoal and by-pToducis.
The company were organized on the 9th OF
March, and is being prosecuted us rapidly as
possibly. Licenses have also been granted to
erect charcoal works at Lake Ponchartrain and
Mobile, but these will have no furnaces in CON
nection with them. Licenses have also been
applied for to build works and furnaces at Sci
ma, Ala. Tuscaloosa, Ma; Florence, Ala, and
West Point, Tenn. The valuation of the by
products in the above estimate was made at IL g
works, and Is largely under the present COM
mercial price american Manufacturer.